First Look: Fate/Extra Last Encore (And Bonus!)

Alternative title(s): You Didn’t Think The Fate Train Was Over, Did You?
Game Adaptation by Shaft
Streaming on Netflix

Premise

It’s another Holy Grail War! But this one’s on the moon! And also a video game! And animated by Shaft!

Iro’s verdict: Fly Me To The Moon

I bought a PSP in 2011 specifically to play Fate/Extra when it came out in English, so you can trust me when I say: this is more of the same Fate shit that you’re either excited or exhausted by. Apparently Nasu himself rewrote the story to change up some stuff, but I can’t imagine it’ll diverge too much, and honestly even Shaft and Shinbo’s visual panache can only do so much to gussy up the usual business. At least they found the time to do a cameo of the female main character, I guess? Look, just pass on this one unless you already know what you’re getting into. It’ll save everyone some grief.

Bonus First Look!

Today’s Menu for Emiya Family

Alternative title(s): Emiya-san Chi no Kyou no Gohan, Fate/Stay In The Kitchen
Manga Adaptation by UFOtable
Streaming on Crunchyroll

Premise

The characters from the original Fate/Stay Night (remember them?) hang out and cook food. What’s a Holy Grail War?

Iro’s verdict: Best Fate Since Carnival Phantasm

This is the real shit right here. What with Zero, Apocrypha, Grand Order, and whatnot, a lot of people forget that a lot of what made Stay Night kinda cool back in the day was the juxtaposition of crazy anime fights and normal home life. It was probably pretty old hat, even at the time (and the whole magical girlfriend thing is definitely overstaying its welcome by now), but there’s something charming about just cooking meals for friends and family. For all of the jokes about Fate, the true heart of the franchise for me was always these weird asides about domestic life, and this captures that without any of the dumb lore bullshit that has come to define the franchise.